Thom Hartmann: Obamacare...how much does it cost to bring down a Prez?

[thomhartmann]

Now for the latest coming out of the Supreme Court. Though the high court did not hand down a ruling on the constitutionality of Obamacare today, it will within the next week. However, we already know who won the battle of public opinion regarding health reform - and that’s the big spending corporate oligarchs. The New York Times reports that opponents of Obamacare have massively outspent supporters of Obamacare on the TV airwaves since the Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama back in 2010. Over $235 million have been spent on TV ads attacking the President’s health reform law, while only $69 million have been spent supporting the law. That’s well above a 3-to-1 advantage. The Chamber of Commerce alone spent $27 million on attack ads against the law, while Karl Rove’s Crossroads SuperPACs spent $24 million, and the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity has, so far, spent $6 million. But this has nothing to do with healthcare. The Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove, and the Koch brothers care less about Obamacare - and more about kicking President Obama out of office and replacing him with an oligarch just like them - Mitt Romney. And since President Obama thinks his health reform law is his signature accomplishment - these guys know if they can knock down health reform - then they can knock down President Obama too. That's why they're targeting Obamacare in particular. That point is - advertising works, and the side that's willing or able to spend the most money on advertising usually wins. We saw this play out in the 2010 midterms, when corporate money catapulted Tea Part Republicans into Congress. And we saw this again earlier this month, when Governor Scott Walker outspent his opponent at least 9-to-1 to survive a recall election in Wisconsin. In post-Citizens United America, big money almost always wins. Now we just have to see if the most political Supreme Court in recent memory will go along with the oligarchs - and deal a critical blow to President Obama just ahead of the election.


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